It seems as though when individuals who are unaware of the truth bring up the changes that have occurred in the Catholic Church since the 1960's, the conclusion is that they had their origin or roots during the same period. Nothing could be further from the truth. One might think of Vatican II as the cage which was allowed to be opened, giving the modernists the opportunity to not only venture out, but leave a trail of utter destruction in its wake.

To properly understand what those heretics of the 1960's were wanting to do, it would be most helpful to return to the reign of Pope Pius X and take a brief look at his decree Lamentabili Sane (July 3, 1907). This is the syllabus which condemns the errors of the Modernists. This decree preceded his well-known encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis (September 8, 1907) by two months.

There are sixty-five errors listed in this decree. The areas that are mentioned include Sacred Scripture, dogma (general), the divinity of Christ, Our Lord's Resurrection, the Sacraments, and a few statements about the Church in general.

It is obvious that those individuals who promoted these errors had in mind to utterly destroy the Church. Their designs ranged from creating doubt to openly opposing the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Space will allow that I mention but a few of the errors, but enough to give the reader an indication of the arrogance of the modernist. These errors are here numbered as they are in the decree, not necessarily according to importance.

Error # 9: They display excessive simplicity or ignorance who believe that God is really the author of the Sacred Scriptures. It should be obvious that God is not being recognized as the author of Sacred Scriptures. The modernist is, therefore, able to consider the Scriptures of human origin, and thus allows him to dismiss any statement or fact which is not to his liking. The numerous "versions" that have been printed in recent decades lends itself to this type of erroneous thinking.

Error # 27: The Divinity of Jesus Christ is not proved from the Gospels. It is a dogma which the Christian conscience has derived from the notion of the Messias. This error along with ten others deny the divine nature of Our Lord. In doing so, Christ merely becomes man, and is, therefore, fallible. Minus His divine nature, He is only a historical figure, and not the founder of the Church.

Error # 65: Modern Catholicism can be recognized with true science only if it is transformed into a non-dogmatic Christianity; that is to say, into a broad and liberal Protestantism. Here we have the age-old lie that faith and science don't mix. There could be nothing further from the truth, for there is no contradiction between faith and science. Otherwise, God, being the Author of both faith and science, would contradict Himself. This, as we well know is not possible.

Modernism has continued to disguise itself in recent years. Being a very part of the different false philosophies and theologies that have pervaded society, the difficulty of educating the masses, especially so-called Catholics, increases with the passing years. This decree, thankfully, provides us with the basic false tenets of the modernist. We are thus able to refer to it and have a better understanding of how to combat this heresy.

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